Every Second Counts
by Twisted Schadenfreude
Summary: Chapter 335. It takes only a moment for somebody's world to be destroyed.


**Every Second Counts**

_It takes only a moment for somebody's world to be destroyed._

**60**

The blow comes so fast that Bacchus doesn't even have the time to think of a single regret.

**59**

He pushes his son into the safety of Wakaba's arms, and waits for fate to consume him.

**58**

Gajeel feels the claw tear into him, and he's grateful for being given the chance to fix what has been broken.

**57**

Droy's body vaguely registers the pain, but the last thing he does is smile at his best friend.

**56**

Gray focuses the last of his energy on dying with a smirk on his face.

**55**

She crawls over to his mangled corpse, barely believing her eyes.

**54**

As he holds Romeo back, Wakaba can feel the tears running unabashedly down his own face.

**53**

Watching his best friend die was like watching a movie in slow motion and all Jet can do is gape as he falls.

**52**

Black hair blown gently by the breeze at her back, she stands in the middle of abandoned rubble contemplating her options and possible futures.

**51**

She tentatively reaches out to touch Juvia's trembling form, before quickly retracting her hand.

**50**

Romeo struggles against his godfather, and wishes for nothing more than to race back to where the last of his family is.

**49**

Death, to Quatro Cerberus's strongest S-Class mage, feels very much like getting piss drunk on a bad day.

**48**

For a moment, dark clouds begin to roll in, and the faint sound of thunder and lightning can be heard in the distance.

**47**

All she knows is that no matter how hard she tries, she will always be evil.

**46**

Gray muses with certainty that she'll live the rest of her days wondering what it was he was about to say.

**45**

Romeo's expression of pure anguish in plain sight, the father grins despite the pain and even shoots him a thumbs-up.

**44**

Mere moments after saving her life, his had been taken; Meredy wants to scream at whoever was in charge of the goddamn universe.

**43**

He wonders what Metallicana would say; his father would probably be disappointed and tell him to man up, because no way he was allowed to be killed by fake dragon spawn.

**42**

Memories flash right before his eyes, and he already misses the two recurring faces, one with blue hair and the other with spikey orange, in every picture.

**41**

The silver haired mage feels like half of his heart has been ripped out and stepped on.

**40**

Romeo feels guilty, remembering the seven years of not even gifting his brave, brave father with one smile.

**39**

Despite the difference in their size, Jet runs to catch his friend before his head touches the pavement –he's much too late, anyhow.

**38**

The final stroke to his animalistic ego and manly pride is the fact that he goes down fighting.

**37**

Days of drinking side by side, of braving strong waters and coming out on top, and laughing with a feisty brunette at their side… all gone in the span of a moment.

**36**

She remembers the day of her conversation with Master Hades so many years ago, and decides death is all she has now.

**35**

_I'm so proud of you_ Macao thinks when he looks at Romeo; he doesn't feel a thing.

**34**

Juvia's screams, lacking an all too familiar '-sama,' echo throughout blood red sky.

**33**

The coppery taste of blood floods his mouth, and he thinks he'll need an entire bottle of whiskey to erase it.

**32**

Wakaba silently promises to be Romeo's father from then on.

**31**

She remembers the time Ultear had stabbed herself in penance for destroying her village, and Meredy hates herself for being grateful that the person she loves most isn't in Gray's shoes.

**30**

For the first time in years, Lyon truly hates his brother –how _dare_ he go and fucking die.

**29**

He wants to tell Salamander that he's like a brother to him, he wants to tell Lily that he's the best companion anyone could have, he wants to tell Juvia that she's the greatest friend he's ever made, he wants to tell Levy that he doesn't think she's weak and tiny at all (and maybe that he loves her, too).

**28**

Droy wants to laugh at the fact that strangely enough, he's still hungry.

**27**

Dying to save someone precious to him –that was exactly how Gray pictured himself going out.

**26**

All the boy wants to do is take back every word of disrespect and selfishness, and replace them with _I love you, Dad_.

**25**

Lyon wants to rush over to where he is and cry over his body like he rightfully should, but he's rooted on the spot.

**24**

"Goodbye, Fourth Master," he mutters under his breath, mourning his oldest and dearest friend.

**23**

Juvia feels the anger boil in the pit of her stomach, and along with her thoughts of grief, she vows to make them pay.

**22**

He only regrets not being able to watch Romeo grow into a man.

**21**

It hurts her, seeing him gone, but mostly because she hates seeing Juvia cry.

**20**

_Natsu-nii isn't my hero, dad, you are_.

**19**

Gajeel, to be honest, feels cheated at not being given the chance to slay an actual dragon because he's meant to.

**18**

Jet is sure that he would give anything, anything, just to fight over Levy with him again.

**17**

Lyon has never before wanted Chelia's presence as much has he does then.

**16**

Romeo Conbolt is an orphan now.

**15**

Droy wonders if he's selfish in hoping that people cry at his funeral, just to prove they did love him.

**14**

Magic surges through her body, and she silently says a prayer of thanks for Meredy, for Jellal, for Gray, and for everyone who showed her the light.

**13**

Jet lifts his friend's body in his arms, putting a hand on his chest, desperate to find a heartbeat.

**12**

Gray Fullbuster's dying wish is that at his funeral, everyone will be drinking and partying as usual, because that's all the home he needs.

**11**

She cradles his head of raven hair in her lap, letting a lone tear drop onto his beautiful, sleeping face.

**10**

Wakaba wanted to watch them grow old together.

**9**

And yet Gajeel still wonders if he's going to heaven or hell.

**8**

He'll miss Levy innumerably, of that there is no doubt, but he thinks he'll miss Jet the most.

**7**

Meredy again wonders where her mother is, and if she's alright.

**6**

His wife left him to raise his son alone, and he spent seven years struggling to make ends meet for a failing guild–but he dies a satisfied man.

**5**

Bacchus yells a final battle cry before finally letting go.

**4**

No one is there to hear Jet's frantic calls for help.

**3**

The ice-mage knows that Gray and Ul are probably laughing at him now, wherever they are.

**2**

They say that the sense of hearing is the last one to go out before you die, and though everything has already faded to black, he hears her shrieking his name.

**1**

Ultear Milkovich releases her final breath, with thoughts of only bitter failure in her heart.

* * *

A/N: Made this mostly because I was not happy with this week's chapter (because I found it a bit anticlimactic, personally, and I would have liked to see Juvia go batshit crazy), and yet was left oddly shaken by the theme. Ultear had no idea that the one minute she sacrificed her life for made all the difference, and saved countless lives in the process. That fate can change in a matter of moments perplexes me, and still makes perfect sense.

This is too much. I must raid the fridge for comfort.

Hope you enjoyed reading this! It took me a mere half an hour, but the process of scrambling the paragraphs and rearranging the sentences evenly was a pain in the ass, let me tell you. If you spot any errors with numbering, typos, or if I perhaps repeated a sentence, please tell me in a review and I will be extremely grateful (because I will end up editing the doc due to a mild case of OCD). Tell me what you thought about this story; any and all forms of praise, critique and flames will be appreciated.

**edited to include 40. Thank you very much to _**rainbowberrypipe**_ and the anon _**Somwone**_ for telling me so.


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